Welcome Emails: Your Indispensable First Impression [Infographic]

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First impressions are everything, the way you greet a person and make him or her feel at the outset determines whether they will want to interact with you again or not. The same holds true in the world of email.

Your welcome email (or lack thereof) is your chance to make a good first impression - after all, your welcome email is the very first email that your subscribers receiving after signing up. Because of this, your welcome e-mail is a key element of your email marketing program.

Yet, only 57.7% of brands send welcome emails to their new subscribers. So, why is this first impression such a big deal?

Your welcome email will be the most engaged-with email you ever send; and

Subscribers who receive welcome emails show 33% more engagement with the brands who send them. (Source)

Key Steps to Creating Your Perfect Welcome Email

See the numbers and want to put together your welcome email? Here are some things to keep in mind:

Send as soon as possible - When subscriber signs up for your list, there's a brief period of time where you can cash in on the "Attention Bonus." You're still top of mind at this point, so take advantage of it

Get whitelisted - In your template, include whitelisting or 'Add to Safe Sender'. Doing so can help ensure that your emails don't end up in the spam folder later on.

Personalize where possible - Create a sense of exclusivity in your emails by personalizing them according to the subscriber preferences.

Consider offering introductory incentives - Take further advantage of the "Attention Bonus" by including welcome incentives, like a discount coupon, free whitepaper or eBook, or free shipping for the first order. Strive to make your content and offers tempting enough to drive the next action (which we hope is a conversion).

Add social sharing options - Showcase your online presence by adding social sharing buttons in the footer of your welcome email. It can drive both better engagement and greater ROI if your subscribers share the 'signup' or 'welcome' offers on social networking platforms.